1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to windmills, turbines, propellers, or other mechanical devices that capture kinetic energy from surrounding fluid using fins, blades, vanes, or other similar appendage to cause a turbine to rotate. This invention is a wing or airfoil with at least one partially encapsulated turbine therein, leaving exposed some turbine blades that extend into the slipstream layer of fluid created by the wing or airfoil as described below.
2. Description of Related Art
This invention uses a wing or airfoil to create at least one slipstream layer of fluid, which is then used to rotate at least one partially encapsulated turbine that is housed within the wing or airfoil. A slipstream layer produced by a wing or airfoil is desirable for this purpose because it is a high-velocity thin layer of fluid in close proximity to the wing or airfoil. The wing or airfoil also serves as a housing for the turbine. This design is very efficient because the bulk of the turbine is shielded by the wing or airfoil, which in turn creates a slipstream layer near the wing, so that the turbine blades do not have to extend very far to reach the slipstream, to enable very efficient kinetic energy transfer from fluid to turbine. A special wing or airfoil uses at least one partially encapsulated turbine within the wing or airfoil, leaving some exposed turbine blades that extend out to the slipstream layer of fluid to provide superior kinetic energy transfer from the surrounding fluid to the turbine. The special wing or airfoil can be placed in a windy area or other fluid with relative motion to create a slipstream. Alternately, the special wing or airfoil can be attached to a moving body within in a relatively still fluid to create a slipstream. The slipstream in turn causes the turbine to rotate. Turbine rotation can be used for the generation of electrical power or the production of other work.
Applicants are not aware of any prior art that discloses such a wing or airfoil with a partially encapsulated turbine with exposed turbine blades that extend to the slipstream layer thereby created by the wing to yield turbine rotation for the extremely efficient generation of electrical power or the production of other work and in such a way as is described here within this application.